Slides for binding a margin of a calendar, poster and the like are known in the art. A slide is generally an elongated strip of metal typically having a tab attached approximately medially thereto that is folded or crimped one or more times to the margin of, for example, a calendar so that the calendar may be hung by the tab from a desired location, e.g., a wall. Examples of slides are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,906,024; and 2,042,912.
Attaching a slide to the margin of a calendar or the like, hereinafter referred to as "tinning", is an economical means of production for calendars, especially for companies that use calendars for advertising purposes. Also, it is advantageous to tin other hanging documents, e.g., a poster, with educational material so that it may be easily moved to and from a desired location.
Certain prior art tinners have been fully or semi-automatic so that large numbers of slides per hour may be applied to respective calendars. One such tinner is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,707,194, owned by the assignee of the present invention and which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference. The '194 patent shows a calendar tinner which automatically supplies a metal strip from a roll of metal to a first folding means which automatically folds the metal strip longitudinally. A calendar is then automatically fed into the folded metal strip, whereafter the metal strip is cut to the width of the calendar to form the slide. The slide is then automatically crimped upon the calendar to sandwich the calendar therein. Thereafter, the slide is automatically folded a second time to produce a second bend which is then automatically crimped back upon itself to complete the tinning process.
Other, semi-automatic tinners are available from the assignee of the present invention. The Stuebing Automatic Machine Company provides, for example, an Electric Metal Edger into which a user hand feeds a slide and calendar wherein the edger automatically crimps the slide upon the calendar. Also, a Magnetic Metal Edger automatically feeds the slide and crimps the slide to a calendar inserted therein by a user. These machines can crimp over 600 slides per hour to calendar margins and are generally used by those who wish to tin large volumes of materials. Furthermore, these automatic and semi-automatic machines are intended for large capacity production and are not economical for a small business desiring to produce relatively small volumes of calendars and/or posters for advertising or educational purposes.
On the other hand, known manual tinners are overly complicated and include numerous cams and other operating mechanisms to accomplish the double fold application of the slide to a calendar margin or the like. As such, these known manual tinners are unduly complicated, bulky, oversized and often require excessive maintenance for the function they perform.